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Taking this one step at a time

Summary:

A look into the lives of the Nublar Six, especially Yasmina "Yaz" Fadoula and Ben Pincus, as they recover from their experiences on Isla Nublar and Mantah Corp's Island. This is a story of the bond and new love between two friends amidst heartbreak, grief, and a rapidly changing world.

In other words, expect angst, pining, uncertainty, and two idiots tripping over themselves trying to balance their friendship with growing attraction as they learn to love again. Gonna be a slow burn.

 

A 'What if?' type story built upon the epilogue of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and the world as seen in Jurassic World: Dominion.
Not canon-compliant with Jurassic World: Chaos Theory.

Notes:

So, this is another idea I've had for a long time. Literally since the end of Camp Cretaceous. Unfortunately, other stories have taken more of my focus. But, given that Chaos Theory is dropping very soon (or may have by the time I post this), I decided to try and get this posted. I cannot promise consistent updates to this story, but it is a story I want to tell. And even if Chaos Theory addresses some of the questions and critiques I had of the epilogue of Camp Cretaceous, this idea won't leave me alone.

It's listed in the tags and the summary, but I'll say it again. This story will focus on a slow burn romance between Ben & Yaz, which means Yaz & Sammy will break up in this story. No ship bashing, no character hating. When it comes to the romantic relationships in this story, no one is “the bad guy” or “the villain.” Sometimes relationships just don’t work out. And to that end, I'm going to try and give Sammy as much development as I can, expand on why the relationship didn't work out (based on where things ended with JWCC and Dominion), and give her character the respect she deserves.

I'm just trying to reiterate this point, as I touched on briefly in "The Track Star and the Wild Child" because I know what it's like seeing one half of your canon ship be slandered, demonized, mischaracterized, etc. all so a fanon ship can happen. I'm not writing this story because I disliked the ending of JWCC or even that Yaz & Sammy got together. I simply like Benmina more and wanted to see if I could write a story where they end up together after everything in canon. Only time will tell if I succeed.

Story title and chapter title from "One Foot" by WALK THE MOON.

Chapter 1: Oh, my heart is a mess

Chapter Text

June 2017, 1 year before Mount Sibo's eruption

It was all over the news, plastered across newspapers, magazines, and digital devices. It was the conversation at every street corner, talk show, and family gathering. It was everywhere.

Except their video calls.

Ben was starting to wonder if it was just in his head and he was making a big deal about the situation or if the others were adamant to ignore it. He was ready to bring it up himself, but Brooklynn beat him to it.

“So,” the retired influencer began, her face illuminated by her camera and little else amidst the dark London night, “we gonna talk about it?”

Darius and Kenji glanced at each other, hesitant to answer. Yaz averted her gaze from her own camera. Sammy coughed awkwardly.

Darius sighed, “Well, it’s now or never. We might as well acknowledge the elephant in the room.”

“More like a Brachiosaurus in the room,” Ben said.

Sammy shrugged, Texas sky fading to twilight behind her, “I want to do something, but I don’t know what we can do at this point.”

Yaz nodded in agreement, her well-lit room a contrast to the dark Michigan night outside her windows.  “I’m with Sammy on this. We can’t save them all, not even with Mantah Corp’s finances.” She grimaced, “And I’m not thrilled at the idea of going back… there.”

“It just feels like we failed, in a way,” Brooklynn said after a beat of silence had passed. “I get it, we saved several of them, especially those we bonded with and cared for. But the others…”

Darius shook his head, his expression solemn. “This isn’t something we could have ever prepared for. Mount Sibo has been inactive for decades. If the park was still open, Masrani Global would have had the money to move them.”

“I’ve spoken to Mae about it,” Kenji added, running a hand through his hair, expression equally distraught. “We managed to reactivate a few of the original BRADs. Mae plans to take them to Nublar and get as many DNA samples as possible before the island goes. Which could be in a week, could be in And if we manage to find a few stray herbivores we can lure to the boat, we’ll take them to our island.”

“What about the DPG?” Ben asked. “Would it be better to put more funding towards them? If they can find a second island to house some dinosaurs, that’s better than just having some on ours.”

“Mantah Corp is barely staying afloat as it is and that’s mainly due to selling components from the BRADs and the biodomes and manufacturing them for other companies,” Kenji explained. “I’m only informed about the situation because the Board wants good press and a redemption story. I’ve tried to request more funding go towards the DPG, but we simply don’t have the money.”

Brooklynn groaned, “And if it weren’t for the geothermal energy powering the island, we’d not have the money to maintain it. It’s a lot of upkeep, even with the BRADs. And we obviously can’t shortchange Sammy’s family for the meat they supply.”

“Which is why Mae said we can’t take on anymore carnivores from Nublar,” Kenji explained, California sunlight glaring across his face. “We don’t have the space, the money, or the resources to support them. We can handle a few more herbivores, but even then we might be looking at placing some of them on the island proper and not within the biodomes.”

“I still can’t believe we’re relying on Kash’s tech to keep the island running, both mechanically and financially,” Yaz pointed out.

“He was super smart when it came to electronics and robotics, just too full of himself,” Darius commented. He shuddered, “And a cruel coward, but you know what I mean.”

Ben frowned, “I don’t like the idea of anyone being a dino’s dinner, but after what he did to Firecracker and the others, he didn’t show any remorse…”

“He got what was coming to him,” Sammy agreed.

“Our personal hate for Kash aside,” Brooklynn began as she scrolled on a tablet, “if the information Mae sent me is correct, we’ll need to look into either expanding our fleet of BRADs in the next few years or replacing them. We can’t run the island well without them, unless we’re wanting to let more people know about its existence.”

Sammy crossed her arms, “I don’t remember it being so difficult for us to run it by ourselves. If Mae is there and Dave and Roxie are helping out now and again, how many BRADs can they need?”

“We, and by ‘we’ I mean you five, only ran it for a few days,” Kenji reminded her. “And while I know none of us have regrets with what we did, we basically trashed the facility. Even after Brooklynn got the power system stable again, it took a few weeks to restore everything to working order once Mae, Dave, and Roxie returned.”

“Plus, there are several more carnivores there than it was originally planned to hold, or at least not hold indefinitely,” Darius added. “Without the BRADs to assist with feeding them and maintaining the facility, Mae and the others wouldn’t be able to actually care and study the dinosaurs we have there.”

An idea was beginning to form in Ben’s head. It had been a while since he last visited Bumpy, FC, and the others. It’d be something he’d have to talk with Mae and his parents about, but given the fact they were constrained on who they could ask to help, he'd take any excuse to spend time with the dinosaurs he'd come to care about. "Hey, Kenji, what would Mantah Corp be willing to pay a teenage intern?"

 


 

2020

If someone had told her that her first relationship would end before she even turned twenty, Yasmina Fadoula would have never believed them. Not after everything she and Sammy had been through together.

And yet, here she was, not even four years after they had started dating and the girl she had been hopelessly in love with just months before now seemed a distant stranger. There had been no massive fight at the end, no argument from either of them to try and salvage the relationship. The time for that had come and gone.

And now, it was time for Yaz to leave. The entire reason she had moved across the country had been to attend a university close to Sammy. Now, the university and the state of Texas itself seemed only to weigh her down. There were good memories buried in the recesses of her mind, she knew. There would be fond recollections of dinners in her apartment, walks around campus and the city, nights under the stars at the Gutierrez ranch, but not right now, not so soon after it had all come crashing down.

Her relationship with Sammy, once so vibrant and full of love, ended with an awkward farewell, a hollow echo of what it had been at the start.

It was with both relief and additional heartbreak that Yaz realized her entire life in Texas could be packed away in her car. Obviously, she wasn’t able to take everything from her apartment with her. The small pieces of furniture she had purchased for herself were easy enough to drop off at the university’s secondhand store while the larger appliances and furnishings had come with the apartment itself.

She had more than enough food to last her for her trip back to Michigan, so any canned goods and other shelf stable items were also donated away. Most of her clothes were folded and packed away in one suitcase while just a few outfits were stashed in a small duffel with other necessities.

Slowly, but surely, the odds and ends of her time at university were stacked, stuffed, and Tetris’d into her car. The most care was given to her art supplies, drawings, and mementos and gifts from her mother and the rest of the CampFam. A family photo album, a cast of a dinosaur footprint from Darius, a postcard from Kenji and Brooklynn with their wedding announcement, a shed tooth from Bumpy courtesy of Ben, and her most prized possession, even now, the black cowgirl boots Sammy had gifted her on their first anniversary.

Once everything had been packed away, she locked the apartment behind her, and sped away, leaving Sammy and Texas behind.


At his work station on Mantah Corp's Island, Ben was surprised to see his phone alight with an incoming call so late in the evening. Concerned, he quickly answered the phone, "Yaz?"

"Ben?" Yaz's voice sounded hoarse. "You there?"

"Yeah, I'm here, Fadoula," Ben said. "You catch a cold or something?"

There was a pause, then, "No, I'm not sick, Pincus. I just... I just needed to talk to a friend."

"You know I'm always happy to lend an ear, but can I ask what's so urgent you had to call at almost midnight?"

"I spent most of the day driving," Yaz told him. "Made it to Missouri, then talked with my mom for a while... but I'm not sure where I'm going from here. I mean, I know I'm going back to Michigan, but after that..."

Ben frowned, "You called me because you're going home to visit your mom?"

"I'm not going to visit my mom, Ben," Yaz said slowly, her voice growing unsteady. "I'm moving back in with her. I've quit college and left Texas."

"But why would...," Ben started before his eyes went wide in realization. "Yaz, are you saying, you-"

"Yeah. Sammy and I... we broke up," Yaz choked out.